Martin Sigg, Närpes, Finland

Martin Sigg specializes in growing tomatoes. He has been pioneering the use of grow lights since 2000. He decided to equip all his greenhouses with a double line of LED interlighting combined with his existing HPS systems. In 2016, he moved to 100% LED in one greenhouse.

Tomatoesdon’t lie.

You can see immediately what’s happening with the plants when they get more light.”

- Martin Sigg, owner, Handelsträdgård Martin Sigg Ab

The challenge

In Finland it is only possible to grow tomatoes during the winter with supplementary lighting. The challenge is to grow tomato plants in an efficient way so that they deliver a high yield of top-quality tomatoes. In 2012, Martin learned about the growing experiences and the high yields achieved by Dutch tomato grower Jami in their 3 ha hybrid (HPS and LED) installation.

The right lighting

Sigg first installed a double row of LED interlighting in one climate zone (approximately 1,500 m2) in the greenhouse. After a very successful year, Sigg installed 2 lines of LED interlighting in his second and third greenhouse. In 2016, he replaced his HPS lighting with LED toplighting in the third greenhouse, producing a total light level of 320 μmol/m2/s.

Since the LED interlighting is mounted between the crop rows, the light can reach the plant and keep the leaves more photosynthetically active, while less light is lost to the ground or reflected upwards. LED-based lighting emits very little radiant heat, giving growers another way to control the climate to support the vegetative or generative crop phases. LED interlighting is an extremely energy-efficient technology, producing higher yields of tomatoes using the lowest amount of energy/kg.

Sigg has seen a significant increase in the yield from his 1,500 m² greenhouse over the past year, and this convinced him to equip his entire business with 100% LED lighting.